Spotting flowers growing wild in South East UK
Wildflower spotting in early summer 2024 In my previous post I listed a few flowers I’d spotted while completing the Wildflower Society diary earlier this year. Since then I’ve been out and about in Seaford, especially to the Last Meadow which is beautiful at this time of year. I’ve pootled down the road to Tidemills…
I was up on Seaford Head in August again for the Moon Carrot survey. There were about ten of us and the numbers of Seseli libanotis were good. I haven’t included photos of them here because I did that last year! In 2022 we had a very dry late summer and the Moon carrots were…
This was the second year I counted wildflowers at Gayles Farm So I’ve tried not to take all the same pictures as this time last year! Although I was out with the same two recorders – Colin and Chris, and the horses were still there! Other fauna included a Wasp spider Argiope bruennichi – a…
Wildflowers of Short Cliff and inland Short Cliff is the next cliff along from Hope Gap travelling East. If you head inland towards South Hill Barn you cross a large area of short grass which is managed by Sussex Wildlife trust using grazing. This area is bounded to the West by an area of scrub…
Wildflowers of Hope Gap After counting Moon Carrots on Seaford Head Nature Reserve in Sussex, I kept my phone at the ready for photography and walked home slowly. This post is in two parts because I took so many photos! This part will be about Hope Bottom and the area around Hope Gap where we…
Seseli libanotis is a rare UK wildflower Seaford Natural History Society counts wild plants of Moon Carrot every year to monitor numbers. Being a clifftop plant, coastal erosion means that the whole colony is in danger of failure in a single rock fall. Moon carrot grows on our chalk cliffs The plant is found right near…
Thistle plants and more Hairy Mallow This was my last day with Chris and Colin counting wildflowers on National Trust land above the Seven Sisters cliffs in the South Downs National Park in Sussex. Counting wildflowers on the South Downs We found many flowers from the species list mentioned in Part 1 but they’re not…
More chalk grassland indicator species We returned to Gayles Farm the following week to survey another field or two. I should say that the survey methods and recording were all carefully adhered to, and were ably undertaken by Chris and Colin, I was just along to speed up the spotting! The main photo above shows…
Chalk grassland indicator species in South Downs National Park Three days after visiting Crowlink, a smaller group of us found ourselves nearby at Gayles Farm. This time it was just myself, Chris (experienced amateur botanist) and Colin who was recording. It was a lovely sunny morning and the views were fab. The main image is…
Out and about in fields with my smartphone I haven’t written a post since April this year. This is not because I’ve lost interest in wildflowers but because, as happens every year, I’ve been too busy spotting them to write about them! Generally I tend to be out and about in spring and summer, then…